Nine notables who have died this past holiday week

The holidays always seem to claim more than their share of notable deaths. Here are nine from the past seven days.

Ram Dass

FILE - In this Oct. 21, 1998 file photo, Ram Dass, best known for the 1971 bestseller "Be Here Now," smiles during an interview at his San Anselmo, Calif., home. The 1960s counterculture spiritual leader and early LSD proponent died, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2019 at his home in Maui, Hawaii. He was 88. (AP Photo/Susan Ragan, File)

Susan Ragan

Elizabeth Spencer

Author Elizabeth Spencer is pictured in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, in front of a personal library in 2005. Spencer died on Dec. 22, 2019 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, at age 98, according to the playwright Craig Lucas. (News Observer via AP, File)

MBO

Da Chen

This undated photo provided by Michael Chen shows his father Da Chen. The brilliant storyteller who drew from the hardships he suffered as a persecuted child growing up in the midst of China’s cultural revolution to create the critically acclaimed memoir “Colors of the Mountain," has died at age 57. Chen died Dec. 17, his wife, Dr. Sun-Ling Chen, said Tuesday, Dec. 24, from the family’s home in Temecula, California. (Michael Chen via AP)

Michael Chen

Allee Willis

In this Jan. 9, 2018 file photo composer Allee Willis attends a post show reception in New York City. Willis, a songwriter whose work included the Broadway musical "The Color Purple" as well as Earth, Wind & Fire's "September" and the "Friends" theme song, has died. She was 72. (AP Photo/Evan Agostini,File)

Evan Agostini

Peter Schreier

In this Sept. 24, 2011 file photo, literary critic Marcel Reich-Ranicki, left, conductor Peter Schreier are seen before before the International Mendelsohn Prize 2011 in Leipzig, Germany. German opera singer and conductor Peter Schreier has died in Dresden, Germany, the dpa news agency announced Wednesday, Dec. 25, 2019 citing his longtime secretary. Schreier was in demand on opera stages all over the world and performed at the Berlin State Opera in his native East Germany. (Sebastian Willnow/dapd via AP, file)

Sebastian Willnow

Galina Volchek

In this Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2018 file photo, Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks to Galina Volchek, Artistic Director of the Moscow Sovremennik Theater, as he comes to congratulate her on 85th birthday in Moscow, Russia. Volchek, a prominent theater director and actress, died in Moscow Thursday, Dec. 25, 2019 at the age of 86. (Alexei Nikolsky, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Alexei Nikolsky

Jerry Herman

In this Nov. 19, 1996, file photo, composer Jerry Herman displays his book "Showtune," in New York. Herman, the Tony Award-winning composer behind "Hello, Dolly!" and "La Cage aux Folles," has died at age 88. (AP Photo/Jim Cooper, File)

Jim Cooper

Don Imus

In this April 9, 2007 file photo, Radio personality Don Imus appears on Rev. Al Sharpton's radio show in New York Disc jockey Don Imus, whose career was made and then undone by his acid tongue during a decades-long rise to radio stardom and an abrupt public plunge after a nationally broadcast racial slur, has died, Friday, Dec. 27, 2019. He was 79.(AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

Richard Drew

Lee Mendelson

A scene from ''A Charlie Brown Christmas." (United Feature Syndicate/UFS/TNS). Lee Mendelson, the prolific producer who guided “A Charlie Brown Christmas” to television, which became an instant holiday classic in 1965 and has since delighted tens of millions of viewers, died Friday, Dec. 27. He was 86.